Developers should be encouraged to build more single storey homes to encourage older people to move out of bigger homes and make way for younger families.

Policy Exchange said that planning rules which have forced developers to build at least 30 dwellings per hectare had acted as a disincentive towards new bungalows by focusing on high density developments.

This meant that in 2009 only 300 bungalows were built in this country, and that currently only two per cent of the country’s homes are bungalows.

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This was despite the clear popularity among people for more bungalows, particularly among older people.

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A 2002 Mori report found that 30 per cent of people wanted to live in bungalow, demonstrating that the prospect of moving to a bungalow was a “pull factor” for pensioners.

Research by Halifax said that bungalows were people’s favourite type of home, scoring well on “facilities such as security, cleaning and ease of use”.

The Policy Exchange report said: “It make no sense to prevent construction of bungalows if we are interested in increasing the housing supply and a more efficient use of the existing housing stock.

“Older people currently living in large family homes might want to downsize to a bungalow, which is smaller and easier to maintain, as well as being on one floor and offering outside space.

“There are huge numbers of spare rooms in homes older people are currently living in. What are needed are the homes that older people like and so would like to move into. But planning policy prevents these homes from being built.”

Separately another think tank said pensioners should “share the pain” of austerity cuts and pay more tax to promote inter-generational fairness in the housing market.

The left-of-centre Fabian Society claimed high-levels of home ownership among older people threatened fairness because middle income wages stagnates and they cannot afford to buy a home.

It found that more than three-quarters of pensioners now own homes, compared with just over half 20 years ago, while the past decade has seen a “dramatic fall” in home ownership among under-45s, the think-tank said.

In 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher came to power, middle-income working age households enjoyed an income 93 per cent above that of middle-income retired households. That figure was now 37 per cent, the study showed.

The society said this had “profound implications” and there should be a “presumption of equality” as “old age is no longer a proxy for poverty”.

“In public policy and deficit reduction measures, ministers should adopt a presumption of equality across age groups,” the society said. "In financial terms alone, older people are no longer distinct and blanket policies favouring them should be reviewed.”

The society argued that pensioners’ taxes should increase, their benefits be cut, and a tax on property wealth should be introduced, raising £7.2 billion a year.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “We are pulling out all the stops to get more homes built for all generations and we're determined that good design will be the cornerstone of that.

“Our reforms are making the planning system much more accessible and by putting local decisions centre stage we are encouraging development that protects our countryside and responsible building.

“The new neighbourhood planning powers we've introduced ensure that local communities decide on the homes they want in their area. These changes are already paying off with a number of plans looking to provide more homes for the older generation.”